-
Recent Posts
Recent Comments
- sally reinhart on November 30, 2020: Day 100 – Ezekiel 48
- Kathleen Barge on November 30, 2020: Day 100 – Ezekiel 48
- Sally Reinhart on September 24, 2020: Day 33 – Jeremiah 33
- Kathleen Anne Barge on August 29, 2020: Day 7 – Jeremiah 7
- Nancy Van Horn on August 27, 2020: Day 5 – Jeremiah 5 – “An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land.”
Archives
- February 2021
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- February 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- September 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- February 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- August 2016
- July 2016
- June 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- January 2016
- December 2015
Categories
Meta
February 5, 2018: Day 42 – Genesis 42
Now we see a side of Joseph that we really haven't seen before. We see a Joseph who is totally in charge and in control and is able to do whatever he wants to his brothers. Notice that in vs. 9 it states that Joseph remembered his dream about his brothers, especially as they came and bowed down to him. He realizes at that point that the dream that he had, had come to fruition. Well, almost all of it at least. He still hasn't seen his dad come down, and that was part of his dream. I love his father telling his brothers: Why are you guys just standing around staring at each other? Go down to Egypt and get some grain.
Once Joseph greets his brothers he realizes that the safest place for them to be would be in Egypt with him, but he is not quite ready to confront his brothers and tell them who he was. So he sets up a trap in order to ensure that they would all come to Egypt. He accuses them of being spies. They aren't, of course, but it is the only way to get his whole family down. When they see that they are going to be thrown into prison and will only be able to escape by keeping one of them in prison, they think they are being punished for what they did to Joseph. They feel as if God is punishing them for that. I wonder how many times they use that as a reason for why something has gone bad in their lives. Maybe each time that something has gone wrong they say: This is God again punishing us for what we did to Moses.
Do you find yourself beating yourself up time and time again for a mistake that you have made in your life. Here is an encouragement to ask forgiveness, make amends, and move on. They have done none of that and so are prisoners to their guilt and their past. Simeon is bound before them and placed into prison. Remember, Simeon is the one that had the idea of slaughtering the circumcised Hivites to get vengeance on the rape of their sister. Jacob was not very happy with Simeon, so maybe it wasn't much of a loss to him. In fact, we read later on that Simeon stays in Egypt quite some time before they come to reclaim him, and it actually isn't until they get really hungry again. We end the chapter with Jacob refusing to send Benjamin down to Egypt.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.